Face the Battle Singing!

Jehoshaphat was in sore distress. What to do!? The Ammonites, the Moabites, and the people of Mount Seir had ganged together against the children of Israel. 2 Chronicles 20:3 reads: “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord …” They took this confrontation seriously. Jehoshaphat went into the house of the Lord, before the new court, to plead with God for His help. Had not God said that if evil should come upon them and they came into the sanctuary and called on Him for help that He would help them?

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The Hovering Blessing

A long, fierce, consuming drought had come upon the land. The leaves crumpled, the earth brake open, the buckets came down on the stony bottom of the well, and found no water; the cattle bellowed with thirst on the banks of the ravine, that was once all a rush with liquid brightness. Alas! Must the nation die?

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My Substitute

When I was a boy, I saw a sight I never can forget—a man tied to a cart, and dragged before the people’s eyes through the streets of my native town, his back torn and bleeding from the lash. It was a shameful punishment. For many offences? No; for ONE offence.

Did any of the townsmen offer to divide the lashes with him? No; he who committed the offence bore the penalty alone.

When I was a student at the University, I saw another sight I can never forget—a man brought out to die. His arms were pinioned, his face was pale as death—thousands of eyes were upon him as he came up from the jail in sight. Did any man ask to die in his place? Did any friend come and loose the rope, and say, “Put it round my neck, and I will die in his stead?” No; he underwent the sentence of the law. For many offenses? No; for ONE offense.

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